


The Trouble with Technology

by depthsofmysol



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Technology, Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-19
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-29 05:21:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/683295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/depthsofmysol/pseuds/depthsofmysol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve finds out not everything on the internet is as innocent as he initially thought. Or Steve finds tumblr, and artwork of him and Tony that shouldn't be seen by the general public.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Trouble with Technology

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired this prompt: "Imagine your OTP finding Tumblr and seeing people ship them so hard. They never use the internet again." ArraFrost may have also given me a suggestion or two when I floated the idea past her. Also, this is rated M because of the four pieces of fanart that are linked. They are definitely not safe for work.

"JARVIS," Steve called out, his voice steady even though he was feeling anything but. The technology of the current decade had been a challenge at first, but after a few lessons with Clint and Nat along with some idiot friendly tech from Stark Industries, and he'd had it figured out in no time. Most days he spent using the laptop to read, or catching up on the terminology of the times. Some days he even went so far as to attempt drawing, usually discarding the results as they were never as good as those done on paper. Innocent stuff in his opinion. Until he stumbled across some site called tumblr and found out that not everything on the internet was as innocent as it looked.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Can you have Tony come up here," he asked as his eyes fixated on the screen in front of him. "I don't care what he's doing down in the workshop. Tell him I need to talk with him now." Curiosity had gotten the better of him at first. Steve had figured the site was nothing more people writing out their thoughts and feelings for others to read. A virtual diary of sorts. It seemed a little strange that people were so willing to allow others to read such things, but he remembered that people were far more open about things now than they were when he was growing up.

As he continued to read over the site, he found that a lot of people were 'shipping' himself along with Tony. After looking up what the term actually meant, Steve found it a little odd but again it wasn't like it was a lie. They were in a relationship of sorts. Some days he thought it was romantic and others he figured it was purely platonic.

Whatever it was it honestly didn't bother him. They had to work together and romantic would definitely make doing that more awkward than if they just kept their relationship at the friends stage. There were some days, though, that he did wonder what it would be like to have some sort of romantic type relationship with Tony Stark. Unfortunately, the instant he saw some of the artwork all of those feelings went right out the door.

As an artist himself, he was critical of what was on the screen in front of him. Steve was also just a bit embarrassed because – well it was him and Tony. He'd seen similar images before. What caught him off-guard were the subjects. How was one supposed to handle seeing that?

"Of course."

Steve was torn between just closing the browser on the computer or just turning off the computer completely. When he'd started out that day he hadn't expected to find such _explicit_ images of himself and another member of the Avengers team. Now that he had there was no way he was going to ever get those particular images out of his head. And once Tony saw them he knew that he would never hear the end of it. If anything, he would probably want him to recreate them for their own personal viewing.

"What's up, Cap?"

"Oh, I see you found tumblr," he teased as he took a seat next to Steve on the couch. Even though he wasn't sure as to why he'd been asked to come up from the workshop something told him the other man had found something that needed explaining, something he probably hadn't seen before. With the others out and about doing whatever it was they did during their down time, it was left to him to handle any questions Steve had. Not that Tony minded. Spending time with Rogers was right up there with working on a new version of the suit.

"You _know_ about this site?" The incredulous look on his face was bound to say more than any words could. It probably shouldn't have shocked Steve as much as it had. There honestly wasn't much Tony didn't know about and it make sense on some level that he would know about this tumblr site.

"Who do you think gave Karp the idea," he shot back as he shook his head. "Honestly, you think that man would have come up with the idea on his own?"

Tony vaguely remembered the man from one of the many conferences he attended throughout the year. They were discussing certain technological trends and someone mentioned micro-blogging. He may have rattled off some ideas, never fully intended to move on them. It seemed as if one of the others from that group had. Were it something that actually mattered to him, he might have actually sent the lawyers after them. But it was nothing more than a micro-blogging site and he had no real interest in stamping a Stark Industries logo all over it.

"Well, have you ever _seen_ some of the stuff on here?" Steve was curious. And also a bit on the embarrassed side. Not because of what he was about to show Tony. He'd seen and drawn the types of things he'd seen on the site many times while on the front lines. Though he'd never shown anyone. There were just some things he felt shouldn't be shared quite so publicly. Which made showing Tony the images all that more difficult.

"Me? No, of course not," he answered just a bit too fast. "Like I have that kind of time."

Of course Tony had seen some of the stuff on that site. On occasion he'd even used some of what he'd read as a basis for some of his dates. At one point he had even gone so far as to leave anonymous notes telling the authors that unlike what they wrote it never ended up quite like they imagined in real life. He was all for a little bit of realism. Especially if he wasn't the only one who was using fan fiction for ideas. He was doing it for the betterment of mankind. Or that would be the story should anyone ever catch on to what he was doing.

"So you've never seen [this](http://hackedmotioninsomnia.tumblr.com/post/42600212295/apologetic-blowie-thanks-hickman)?" Turning the computer towards Tony, Steve clicked on the first window and waited to see the other man's response. His initial response had been shock, followed by curiosity, and then lastly came the realization that he was staring at artwork of the two of them. Steve had never been so grateful to have been alone in the main living room so much in his life. He could have only imagined what the others would have said had they found him staring at the images he'd been looking at.

"Nope," Tony replied as nonchalantly as he could, tilting his head as he studied it even further. "Though if something like that interests you we could always give it a try."

Steve had nothing to say in retort. A part of him wondered if Tony was being serious while the other part just knew it was all one big joke to him. Everything was a joke to the man. His own discomfort, it seemed, as well. Maybe it was for the best that they kept whatever it was between them on a friendly level. There was no way he could handle jokes like that all the damn time. Especially something as serious as what he was showing him. Should any of the others see it, or worse Fury, there would be no stopping the jokes, the quips, and the innuendoes.

"So you've never seen [this](http://royswordsman.tumblr.com/post/42610731744/hickman) or [this](http://royswordsman.tumblr.com/post/39079338037/o-i-was-too-lazy-to-do-some-colouring-and-i), either?"

"Is this your way of telling me that you like me, Rogers?" Tony teased as he looked over the next two images on the screen. "You realize there are other ways of doing that. I should know I've used almost all of them at some point or another."

"Tony! I'm being serious here," he snapped back, shaking his head. "What do you think would happen if Clint or Nat or Agent Coulson saw these?" Again, Steve felt the need to treat Tony more like a child instead of an adult. Everything, no matter how big, was a joke and he was at the point of loosing what little patience he had left for the other man. Which was saying a lot considering how tolerant he was of the shenanigans that went on in the tower.

"They would probably take you aside and caution you against dating a narcissist such as myself," Tony dead-panned in return. "Or they would congratulate us while asking what took us so damn long. I'm not sure which as there is a betting pool for both scenarios."

A betting pool? Steve shouldn't have been surprised upon hearing that. Not when he knew about and had participated in some of the other pools they'd had going at one time or another. Most of the time he ended up using what he won to treat the others. It only seemed fair in his opinion. But most of their pools hadn't been on the prospects of two members of their team getting together. They were stupid little things. Maybe it was time to have a talk with the others about what was and what wasn't an acceptable use of their betting pools.

"Hey, what's this," Tony asked as he leaned over to click on the last hidden window. He'd seen Steve consciously avoid it as he showed him the other windows, and his curiosity had been piqued. Whatever it was had to have been good if the All American golden boy wasn't willing to share it with him, of all people.

"Nothing," Steve blurted out in an attempt to divert Tony from that last image. "It's nothing really. You don't need – "

"What do we have [here](http://ironfries.tumblr.com/post/36480689032/cropped-part-of-a-commission-where-the)," Tony said as he leaned back to study the image before him. "We need to get that reproduced to hang up here in the tower."

If Steve had any say so in the matter they were definitely _not_ getting that to hang in the tower. Not that he was ashamed of the image. He just felt no desire to have to see that every time he was in the tower. Though knowing Tony like he did no amount of words would ever be enough to sway his decision once it had been made. At some point he was quite certain that that particular image would end up in one of the rooms that they all used. And _he_ would be the one who had to deal with all the questions.

"No we don't," he told him as he gently closed the lid of the computer. "Promise me you won't get that image. And can you make certain none of the others have access to that site? It would save us both a lot of unnecessary questions."

"But Steve," Tony whined as he drew out the man's name, completely ignoring the imploring look on his face. "Oh fine. Take all the fun out of things. JARVIS! Can you add tumblr to the list of sites whose access is blocked in the tower?"

"Already done, sir."

"There. Are you happy now," he asked as he pushed himself up from the couch and walked back towards the elevator. "I'm going back to the workshop. If you decide to find out what those images are like in real life you know where to find me."

Steve could only shake his head as a small smile threatened to form. He wasn't about to tell Tony he knew what blowjobs from another male felt like, or that he wasn't some sort of blushing virgin. Though his reactions to some of the images might have given the impression that he was, he couldn't explain that it wasn't the sex acts but the fact it was them that had embarrassed him. Maybe one day he would, when they decided to stop dancing around the subject of them and whether or not they were friends, colleagues or more than that.

"JARVIS. Override that last command," Tony ordered the instant the elevator doors closed. "Contact the artist of that last image and see if they can send us over a larger version. And then make certain that Steve's access code is the only one that has tumblr blocked."


End file.
